Tangau suggests FRIM study on sustainable timber species

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Tangau suggests FRIM study on sustainable timber species

By PAUL MU Paul@newsabah

times.com.my

KOTA KINABALU: Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Madius Tangau has proposed that the Forest Re"

search Institute Malaysia (FRIM) set up a special di

vision to solely study the aca

cia mangium species.

He made the call as there is

no specific study being'done on acacia mangium which is an important timber resource

in the South East Asia re

gion.

"I propose that FRIM set up a division to solely study the acacia mangium as we don't have a place to refer to when the species experiences dis

eases and other problems,"

said Madius during a work

shop on "Technology Transfer on Valueadding the Acacia

Lumber from Sabah" at a ho

tel here yesterday.

Besides that, acacia is

known to have difficulties

drying due to wet pockets developing, and more studies

need to be done to find out its

problem. 1

He also called on the Min

istry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) and the industry to forge a col

laboration to conduct research

and development where they

can share die same data and

come up with a conclusion as

both sides need to work to

gether in order to move for

ward by adopting the National Blue Ocean Strategy. ;

And the timberbased sector

is set be a sunrise industry by^

moving into the downstream areas to produce valueadded products by using science and technology in its develop

menChe added.

In order to'boost the pro*

duction of the valueadded

products, he said the shortage

of raw materials also needs to

be addressed as presently the market contribution from this sector in Sabah still remained at 13 per cent compared to 60 per cent in the peninsula.

FRIM deputy directorgen

eral Dr Rahim Sudin said the institute has successfully transferred its technology to

the Sabah Timber Industries

Association (STIA) to devel

op an optimal method of dry

ing to improve the mill

turnover time for acacia

mangium.

He said the collaboration between FRIM and STIA has

also established a drying man

ual and standard operating procedure for the processing of acacia mangium lumber.

"In addition, a drying mill quality control manual was produced which entails qual

ity control procedures for monitoring of kiln drying pro

cess to ensure quality kilndried lumber," he said.

He assured that FRIM

would always improve itself through research and inno

vation, working in tandem with stakeholders from gov

ernment agencies, forestry

fand woodbased sectors for the .economic and social wellbeing of the country.

STIA president Datuk James Hwong in his text speech read by its treasur

er:general Tag Peng Juan thanked MOSTI forWldt&ting

funds to the association to

complete" a research and de

velopment project called "To develop commercial truck flooring boards from planta

tiongrown acacia resource in Sabah" on September 2015

after it was started in 2013.

Under the project, he said

six milestones and 24 activ

ities costing RM650,000 were completed besides a grant of RM500,000 contributed by MOSTI under Community In

noFund project (CIF).

"The initiation of the pro

ject was timely as acacia tim

ber producers are facing var

ious challenges to consistently produce quality acacia sawn timber, mainly due to the in

herent characteristics of the

timber, and the prolonged dry' ing time required to dry the timber down to the targeted

moisture content suitable for

downstream processing," said

James.

Headline Tangau suggests FRIM study on sustainable timber species MediaTitle New Sabah Times English (KK)

Date 13 Nov 2015 Color Black/white

Section Home Circulation 17,182

Page No 3 Readership 51,546

Language English ArticleSize 339 cm²

Journalist PAUL MU AdValue RM 730

Frequency Daily (EM) PR Value RM 2,190

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Madius (seated) signing the acacia drying manual whilst Dr Rahim (left) and Tan (second right) and STIA rfiembers look on.